April 2 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House passed a bill that
would authorize a range of sanctions against Russian officials
while extending $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine’s
fledgling government.

The measure House lawmakers cleared 378-34 yesterday goes
to President Barack Obama to be signed into law. The Senate
passed the legislation by voice vote on March 27.

In addition to the loan guarantees, H.R. 4152 authorizes
$150 million in direct assistance to Ukraine. It imposes
sanctions against Russians and Ukrainians deemed responsible for
corruption and violence.

The White House welcomed the vote, spokesman Jay Carney
said in a statement. He said the sanctions would “impose costs
on individuals and entities who are responsible for acts of
violence against the Ukrainian people or are undermining
Ukraine’s peace, stability, sovereignty, or territorial
integrity.”

The measure will “stand up to Russian aggression” by
expanding sanctions that can be imposed on Russian officials and
sending a “message of more energy independence for Ukraine,”
said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a
California Republican.

The conflict over Crimea marks Russia’s most significant
standoff with the U.S. and the European Union since the Cold War
ended. Russian President Vladimir Putin has justified the
annexation of Crimea from Ukraine as righting a wrong that split
the peninsula from Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Earlier Sanctions

The U.S. has previously issued sanctions to business
leaders and government officials with ties to Putin, as well as
a bank. Last month, Obama targeted seven Russian officials and
four people from Ukraine, and then blocked travel and froze the
assets of 20 more Russians and Bank Rossiya.

The sanctions against Russian officials and their close
associates or family members may include blocking access to
assets they hold in the U.S. and prohibiting travel to the U.S.

The bill “sends a very clear message that the United
States will not tolerate the Russian incursion into Ukraine,”
said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, a
Kentucky Republican. “This bill will provide some stability for
Ukraine throughout this tumultuous time.”

Lawmakers in the Republican-led House also passed a bill
yesterday that would increase funding to international
broadcasting stations such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
and Voice of America in Ukraine and Crimea.

Propaganda ‘Overdrive’

The measure, S. 2183, passed unanimously by the Senate last
week, would boost radio and television in local languages. It’s
designed to offset Crimean TV stations that, according to the
bill’s text, have been switched over to “a 24/7 Russian
propaganda format.”

Russian propaganda is “really in overdrive,” Royce said.
The bill “puts us on the offensive in the information battle.”

The House’s first vote to pass a Ukraine aid plan was on
March 6, as Crimea’s parliament scheduled a referendum to secede
from Ukraine and join Russia.

The measure stalled in the Senate over Republican
objections to Democrats’ proposal to make changes to the
International Monetary Fund. The Senate passed the measure last
week after Democrats dropped their demands to include the IMF
provision.

While U.S. lawmakers debated and then took a week-long mid-March break, residents of Crimea voted to join the Russian
Federation, and Putin’s government completed the annexation.

U.S. lawmakers have more options should the measure not
help dissuade Putin from moving further into Ukraine. House
lawmakers last week passed a separate bill that includes
additional sanctions that Royce said won’t proceed for now
though could be revived to stem future Russian aggression.